Small hydro-power plant projects have become a sort of a buzz-word around Serbia in 2018. The fight of local communities and activists to defend these rivers have been going on for years already, with escalation in 2018. Complaints on these projects, which are detrimental for the environment, leaving local inhabitants without drinking water and only bringing profit to private investors while emptying public budget – have found its way from Stara planina straight to Brussels.
During the summer, the European Parliament was, upon the invitation of the MEP Thomas Waitz from the European Greens party, a host of the “Save the blue heart of Europe” debate. The debate that had its focus on threats facing over 3 000 rivers all across the Balkans, was attended by high representatives of the European Commission, representatives of civil society, as well as the local communities directly threatened by the development of the small hydro-power plant projects. It was underlined that, despite the quest for increasing the share of renewables, these projects cause a huge damage, while giving a minimal contributions to the energy sector, while there are plenty of ways to better utilize renewable energy potential. The impact of this debate was clear when resolutions of the European Parliament, following the EU Commission’s country reports for the Western Balkans countries, were published. The Resolution on Montenegro calls for cease of investments in harmful energy projects; the Resolution on Albania calls for revision of projects with questionable environmental impact assessment and strategic environment assessment studies. The initiative of local communities, civil society organizations, media, non-formal groups and individuals, with the support from the members of the European Greens Party in the European Parliament, resulted in including these projects into the Resolution on Serbia.
The Resolution, submitted by the rapporteur for Serbia in the European Parliament, Mr David McCalister, was adopted with majority of the votes. One of the amendments submitted by Mr Igor Šoltes, contains the call towards Serbian authorities to implement necessary measures for preservation of protected areas, with the biggest emphasis on these small hydro-power plant projects on Stara Planina. Besides that, the document calls for improving transparency related to project planning, with emphasis on better public participation and consultations with all stakeholders.
The resolutions of the European Parliament are not legally binding. They are more sort of guidelines for the countries in the accession process, as well as for the EU countries. Such character of these resolutions is easily recognizable since, despite the cold weather, intensive clashes between local activists and communities with the investors still continue. After many direct local actions aimed at the projects that threaten to leave local communities with no drinking water, a big protest was organized in the city of Pirot in August last year, underlining the request for immediate moratorium on small hydropower plant projects. The example of Stara planina inspired many other local communities to join forces in fight to protect their rivers. Since no significant progress was achieved in the meantime, another big protest is scheduled for January 27th in Belgrade, with the same request: moratorium on small hydropower plant projects in Serbia.
Alarmingly bad air quality
While small hydro-power projects have been recognized as the most pressing issue in 2018, poor quality of air is something that citizens in urban areas of Serbia have been faced with for quite some time. During winter, when the factor of intense traffic is multiplied by burning fossil fuels in household furnaces, significant breaches of official limits for pollutants are constantly happening. Belgrade earned its place on the list of the most heavily polluted urban areas and managed to even surpass Beijing during some days. Cities of Užice and Valjevo are particularly vulnerable to this issue, taking into account the geography, which is favorable towards temperature inversion.
Air pollution data, together with latest findings of the WHO on the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution, pushed the European Parliament towards including the issue of air quality into its resolution. A deep concern due to alarming levels of air pollution in Serbia was once again underlined. Authorities are invited to implement short-term measures for reducing the pollution, while designing mid and long term measures in the areas of transport and mobility are expected in the near future.
The issue of air quality is not something that has emerged recently, however the cause of pollution has changed. Once the main cause was the industrial production, particularly in factories near residential neighborhoods. Since we have almost no industry anymore, other sources of air pollution are prevailing these days. The main cause of air pollution in cities are traffic, intensive construction, household furnaces and energy poverty, affecting more and more people. Once these factors are joined by an unfavorable nature of the terrain in some places, a lethal dose of air pollution is prepared. All of these problems require long-term solutions, designed through a comprehensive process involving all relevant stakeholders.
Predrag Momčillović, Belgrade Open School
Photo: Mirjana Jovanović